“I’m not nervous or worried on any stage in the world,” Suchet says. “That’s my home.”
The Times sits down with @David_Suchet to discuss Poirot, his time at the RSC, and why his father “was never really pleased about me acting”. thetimes.co.uk/article/david-…
The Times sits down with @David_Suchet to discuss Poirot, his time at the RSC, and why his father “was never really pleased about me acting”. thetimes.co.uk/article/david-…
Suchet is touring an interview show about his life and career.
“I take what I do incredibly seriously,” he says, his voice as audiobook-rich off stage as it is on stage. “I don’t want to play games with my life as an actor.”
“I take what I do incredibly seriously,” he says, his voice as audiobook-rich off stage as it is on stage. “I don’t want to play games with my life as an actor.”
Not only did he wear padding to play Poirot, he also stayed in character throughout the day on set. He will start his work analysing a script three months before he starts a project.
Before he started playing Poirot in 1989 he read all of the stories, watched as many of his predecessors’ performances as he could and made a list of what he saw as the character’s 93 key traits. 
Suchet throws himself into his work with such abandon that he has had to develop tactics to stop himself taking it home. “I can’t just paint it on,” he says.
Has he ever confused taking the work seriously with taking himself seriously? “Yes, when I played Freud. I went much too far: when I went home, he was still there.” His wife Sheila, he says in the show, talks about “the men I’ve lived with”.
His father “was never really pleased about me acting”.
To the extent that had he ever wanted to do any other job, he says, it would have been a surgeon, “to impress Father. But I never had the brain to do it.”
To the extent that had he ever wanted to do any other job, he says, it would have been a surgeon, “to impress Father. But I never had the brain to do it.”
Jack Suchet died in 2001. Was he never reconciled to his hugely famous, hugely successful son’s vocation?
“He was impressed by Poirot. He was more impressed with my work at the RSC because it carried certain kudos, but he was never a man that would go to the theatre, really.”
“He was impressed by Poirot. He was more impressed with my work at the RSC because it carried certain kudos, but he was never a man that would go to the theatre, really.”
“He always felt that my life was a game rather than something serious.”
Would Jack have been swayed by the knighthood? “He’d have told me to stop playing games, I think,” Suchet says, laughing. “No. I think I might have gained his approval by the end.”
Would Jack have been swayed by the knighthood? “He’d have told me to stop playing games, I think,” Suchet says, laughing. “No. I think I might have gained his approval by the end.”
Read the full interview: thetimes.co.uk/article/david-…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
